
















.*'^\ iW\/\. -^^A '^}J\ 



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Bit HtUtam P^pp^rrpil 
Ifall 0f Jam? 



^nt^mmBt ■ m i» n ii I i< i » — ■!■ 



to the electors of the haul of fame, 

New York university: 

IN connection with placing the name OF Sir William 
Pepperrell in nomination for the Hall of Fame, the Pepper- 
RELL Association begs to submit this Memorial, prepared by 
Honorable Everett p. Wheeler of New York City. 

RALPH S. BARTLETT, 

President of the pepperrell Association. 
53 STATE STREET, BOSTON. MASS. 
JULY 29, 1 920. 




SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL 



FROM PORTRAIT BY SMYBERT, BELONGING TO KENNETH PEPPERRELL 
OF NEW YORK. AND NOW IN METROPOLITAN MUSEUM. 



T^'VUL 






fcmorml 



Jtt Hupport of tl|? nominalton of tl|? name of 
^'\x HtUtam P^ppfrrrU, to \xt inarrtheb to 
tl|e fall of 3Pamf for (Sreat AmeruatiB. 



giliat fortune albpb l|t«n *» ^^^^^ ''"* ** "*^*' *** 
ll|e maitttpr aljt fawnra tijf pilot. rol|0 t»atrl|tng 
ptifry rl)anging totnb, eutra Bljifttng turrent. 
makPB all BubBtrutPttt to lita purpoBP.— Napier. 



JOHN P. BROOKS 

PRESIDENT OF THE PEPPERREUL ASSOCIATION 

EVERETT P. WHEEUER 
FREDERIC H. WIUKINS 

GEORGE B. LEIGHTON 

COMMITTEE 



REPRINT OF ISSUE OF JULY, 19 15 
WITH ADDITIONS 



3n aujJtinrt of ll^r nomtnatian nf tljp namf of ^tr WtUiam PrpprrrpU 
ta hp tnarribpJi in tl|p ifall nf 3famp for (Srrat Amprirana 

The rules for elections to the Hall of Fame provide for fifteen 
classes and require a selection according to the definition of 
"famous" in the new English Dictionary: "The condition of 
being much talked about, chiefly in a good sense, or reputation 
from great achievements." There is also provision, for " more 
justly famous," indicating that there may be a candidate who 
would be eligible for selection, but who is not so especially eligible 
as to be selected as one of the American men who are in any one 
year to be chosen. It may therefore follow that a candidate of 
one season should fail of election because it is thought that other 
candidates are more justly famous. Hence it has frequently 
happened in the history of nominations for the Hall of Fame that 
the candidate for one year who has received a number of votes, 
but not a sufficient number, should be elected in a subsequent 
season. In 1910 it appears from the report to the electors made 
by the Senate of New York University, that William Pepperrell 
received the votes of four college presidents, three professors of 
history and scientists, five publicists, editors and authors, and five 
jurors, making seventeen in all. In that report he was classed 
among famous American soldiers. Undoubtedly his military 
achievements were those which gave him greatest fame, but in 
judging of the man he should be ranked in the Seventh or General 
Class. He was for twenty-eight years an upright and efficient 
chief justice, learned in the law of his colony. He was a statesman 
who presided over the Massachusetts Council for the Colony of 

1 



Massachusetts for thirteen years, who during part of that time 
was acting governor of Massachusetts, and whose advice was 
sought by the British Ministry in Colonial affairs in times of 
great difficulty and perplexity. Beside all this he was the most 
successful merchant of his time in America. Such a combination 
of offices would be impossible in our more complicated civilization. 
It was not so uncommon in Colonial days, but no man in our 
Colonial history filled so important a place, in so many and such 
varied positions of importance and responsibility as did Sir William 
Pepperrell. 

In support of his nomination we submit the following 
considerations. 

First. 

One colonial should be selected. As Freeman said in his 
lecture on George Washington (Feb. 22, 1886): "Men like 
them had gone before him; his work needed theirs as its fore- 
runner; Virginia, Massachusetts and their fellows needed to be 
called into being, before he should come, whose calling was to 
weld them into one greater whole." It is essential to the true 
perspective of American history that we should give prominence 
and dignity to the great colonials. They did work of permanent 
importance not only for their own country, but for the world. 
It is hard to over-estimate the influence of the American system 
of government upon public sentiment and institutions throughout 
the civilized world. Of this system they laid the foundation. 

The name of one of these colonials has been inscribed in the 
Hall of Fame, Jonathan Edwards. He represents the Puritan, 
Calvinistic element on its religious side. What gave him fame 
was his treatise on the freedom of the will. It is certainly a work 
of extraordinary acumen. It was well, we may frankly admit, 
to place a representative of that side of the Colonial character on 
our roll of American worthies. But may we not fairly say that 
this metaphysical side was not the only important side.? The 
great Roman said that " the founding of a commonwealth was a 

i, 



work most pleasing to the gods." Certainly Americans will agree 
that the foundation of our American commonwealth was well 
pleasing to the Almighty, who is the God at once of justice, of 
freedom, of law and of mercy. It is a serious omission, that there 
should not be in the Hall of Fame the name of one of these great 
founders, whose death occurred before the Revolution. 

It is natural that the lustre of the great names of men who 
achieved their fame after the Declaration of Independence should 
have obscured for a time that of those under whose guidance and 
leadership the thirteen colonies attained the strength and mutual 
understanding, without which the revolution would have been a 
failure, and American independence impossible. 

But it should never be forgotten that the Constitution of the 
United States was an evolution. In any just view of American 
history the men who took part in this evolution and made its 
success possible, should not be forgotten. Washington, Franklin, 
Jefferson and Adams are rightly inscribed in the Hall of Fame. 
Their achievements were the legitimate outgrowth and develop- 
ment of the deeds of the great colonials. 

We respectfully submit that of these no one is better entitled 
to be inscribed in the Hall of Fame than Sir William Pepperrell. 

Second. 
Pepperrell was the most famous colonial of his time. He was 
the only colonial who was made a baronet. He was the only 
colonial who received the commission of Major General, and 
afterwards of Lieutenant General in the British Regular Army. 
He was the only colonial in honor of whose achievements not only 
the cities of the colonies, but London itself, were illuminated. 
He was the orJy colonial who received a service of plate from the 
city of London in honor of his achievements. He is the only 
colonial in whose honor a stately monument outside the limits of 
the United States has been erected. I refer to the monument 
erected by the Society of Colonial Wars at Louisburg in 1895, 
the 150th Anniversary of the surrender of that city. He is the 

3 



only colonial in whose honor, one hundred and fifty years after 
his great achievements, a devout service of thanksgiving to Al- 
mighty God was celebrated in the leading city of what are now 
the United States of America, that is to say at St. Paul's Church 
in New York City, on the twenty-fourth day of March, 1895. 
Finally, he is the only colonial from the colonies forming the 
United States, in honor of whose achievements a permanent 
memorial has been proposed and provided for by the public 
spirit of a Canadian barrister and by an Act of the Parliament of 
Nova Scotia. In 1904 David J. Kennelly, K. C, created a Louis- 
burg Memorial Fund, and made a will in which he bequeathed the 
major part of his estate to trustees of this fund to be applied for 
the preservation of the Fortress of Louisburg and to the com- 
memoration of the achievement of its capture in 1745. These 
trustees were incorporated by Chapter 56 of the Acts of Nova 
Scotia passed in the year 1906, which act was amended by Chapter 
59 of the Acts of Nova Scotia of 1912. The original act is entitled 
" An Act to incorporate the trustees of the French Fortress and 
old burying ground at Louisburg as an historical monument of 
the Dominion of Canada and as a public work." The chairman 
of the Committee now addressing you was named as one of the 
trustees for the reason that he is himself a lineal descendant of 
Sir William Pepperrell. Mr. Kennelly's object " was to protect 
the existing remains of the Old French Fortress and burying ground 
and to erect a masonry tower * * * which shall constitute a 
museum." 

Of the Memorial Fund created by Mr. Kennelly, King 
Edward accepted the position of Patron, the American Ambassa- 
dor, Mr. Choate, the French Ambassador, M. Cambon, and the 
Earl of Minto, Governor-General of Canada, became Honorary 
Vice Patrons, and some of the most distinguished men of England 
and America — among them Lord Halsbury, Lord Wolseley, 
Lord Strathcona, President Eliot, Bishop Lawrence, Senator 
Hoar, Admiral Dewey, became Vice Patrons. President Roose- 
velt wrote this letter commending the plan: 

4 



,, ^ ^ Oyster Bay, July 7, 1905. 

My Dear Sir, — 

Mr. Choate has forwarded to me your letter with references 
to the Louisburg Memorial. It is hardly necessary for me to 
say, I trust, how heartily I sympathize with you in your purpose. 
It is in every way fit and proper that there should be such a 
memorial, for it commemorates an incident that links the history 
of our continent in a pecuHar way with that of the old world. 
With cordial good wishes for the success of the undertaking, 
I am sincerely yours, 

Theodore Roosevelt. 
David J. Kennelly, Esq. 

Third. 

Pepperrell was the most enterprising and successful colonial 
merchant and one of the most distinguished colonial statesmen. 

He was the most skilful and successful colonial general. 
Under his leadership regiments from the different colonies learned 
to cooperate against regular troops entrenched behind strong 
fortifications. The veterans of Louisburg were the backbone of 
the New England forces at the beginning of the revolution. 

As Senator Root said at a dinner of the Society of Colonial 
Wars : 

" The descendants of the men trained in these early struggles 
were the men who were to meet an emergency which was of the 
highest importance to the whole civilized world, and they were 
able to defeat the veterans of England. 

"This training gave to the soldiers of the Revolution the 
vigor and strength that enabled them to stand against overwhelm- 
ing odds." 

He received the highest honor in the gift of his native colony, 
— President of the Council. 

He received, as has been shown, the highest honors conferred 
before the Revolution by the British Government upon a colonial. 

He was a typical American; typical of the time when the 
exigencies of life were such that a man of talent could not limit 

5 



himself or his intelligence to one particular occupation, but was 
compelled to play many parts, which in a later and more complex 
civilization would be filled by different individuals. 

William Pepperrell commenced life as a merchant, and a 
merchant he continued for thirty years. Yet during that time 
he became Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in Maine. 
He was President of His Majesty's Council for the Colony of 
Massachusetts. As general of the colonial forces, he conducted 
the most successful and briUiant of the campaigns in which the 
colonists were unaided by troops from the mother country. 

What is commonly known as an education — that is to say 
scholastic training — was vouchsafed to few colonials. William 
Pepperrell, like most of the young men of his time, had little in- 
struction in school beside reading, writing and arithmetic. His 
father, however, employed an instructor who taught him survey- 
ing and navigation — the measuring of the land, and the tracing 
of a i^athway over the trackless ocean — two arts which to a 
colonist and navigator were essential. His frame was hardened 
by constant activity in the open air, by contests with the savages, 
by explorations in the woods of Maine, by voyages on the sea. 
He met in the course of these adventures all sorts and conditions 
of men, from the Governors in Boston, and in the old mansion at 
Portsmouth, which Longfellow has immortalized, to the Indian 
in the forest. His mind and heart were enlarged by the spirit 
of progress which filled the breast of every active colonist, and the 
capacity to command, which distinguished him throughout his 
life, showed itself at an early age. 

As partner in his father's commercial enterprises he extended 
the sphere of business of the firm. Their warehouses were filled 
with fish from the Banks of Newfoundland, with sugar and mo- 
lasses from the West Indies, with hemp and iron, linen and silk, 
from Great Britain, with naval stores from the Carolinas. The 
firm owned more than a hundred vessels and their name and 
ensign were to be seen in London and Bristol, in the Havannah, 
and at Charleston, Wilmington and Boston. The fortune in- 

6 



creased rapidly, and part of it was invested in immense tracts of 
land in Maine, where the great pine trees were cut and floated 
down the rivers, and built into ships which added in their turn 
to the wealth and prosperity of the firm of William Pepperrell and 
Son. Soon after he was twenty-four he established a branch of 
the house in Boston; in 1726 he was chosen representative from 
Kittery to the Massachusetts Legislature, and in the following 
year was appointed by Governor Belcher a member of the Massa- 
chusetts Council. (It will be remembered that Maine was then a 
part of Massachusetts.) When hardly twenty-one years of age 
he was commissioned as a captain of a company of cavalry, and 
soon after became major and lieutenant-colonel. In the same 
year in which he was elected representative to the Legislature, 
he was commissioned colonel and placed in command of all the 
Maine militia. 

In 1730 he was appointed by the Governor Chief Justice of 
the Court of Common Pleas for Maine, and this office he con- 
tinued to hold until his death. Immediately upon his appoint- 
ment he sent to London for a law library. The records of his 
court, and the testimony of all his contemporaries, show that, 
though not bred a lawyer, he administered justice with firm and 
even hand to the entire satisfaction of litigants, and of the whole 
community. 

In 1734 his father died, and he succeeded to the business of 
the firm, and to the greater part of the large tracts of land in 
Maine, of which his father had become the owner. This accession 
to his fortune did not diminish his activity. He became and 
continued President of the Council for the Colony of Massachu- 
setts. For both public and private reasons he resided with his 
family during a large part of every year in Boston, where his two 
children, Elizabeth and Andrew, were educated. 

Fourth. 

Meanwhile, the politics and wars of Europe were a source 
of constant interest and apprehension to the colonists. England 

7 



had been at war with Spain, and the naval battles which the two 
nations, then more equally matched, fought for the possession of 
the West Indies, were a source of as much interest in Boston and 
New York, as they were in London and Bristol. The English 
were getting the better of the conflict, and the apprehension be- 
came general that Spain would seek and secure an alliance with 
France, and that the result would be a war between the allied 
powers and England, which would involve the colonies. 

In 1743, Governor Shirley received dispatches from England, 
that in all probability war would soon be declared. In October 
of that year he transmitted the intelligence to Colonel Pepperrell, 
with instructions to put the frontier immediately in a state of 
preparation for war. A copy of this, Pepperrell at once trans- 
mitted to his officers, adding: " I hope that He who gave us 
breath will give us the courage and prudence to behave ourselves 
as true-born Englishmen." 

On the 15th of March, 1744, war was declared by the French, 
and hostilities at once began in Nova Scotia. The islands of 
Cape Breton and Newfoundland are on opposite sides of the 
entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The French, in order to 
guard this entrance and protect their Canadian possessions, had 
erected on the island of Cape Breton, the great citadel of LouLs- 
burg, the strongest fortress in the new world. The garrison of 
this fortress was a constant menace to the colonists, and the fort 
itself was a depot of warlike supplies for all the French armies in 
Canada. The harbor was capacious, and afforded a safe anchorage 
for the French men-of-war, a place of refuge for their merchantmen 
and fishing vessels, and a convenient rendezvous for their priva- 
teers. Thence they sallied forth to ravage colonial commerce. 
There they sought refuge with their prizes. i The entrance to 
this harbor is only twelve hundred feet wide, and in the center of 
this channel is an island similar to that on which Fort Sumter is 
built at the entrance to Charleston harbor. 

1 See Commemoration sermon, preached by Dr. Thomas Prince, in Old South 
Church, Boston, July 18, 1745, p. 19, Mass. Hist. Soc. Collection Pamphlets, 
Series VII. 

8 



On this island the French had erected a fort and another was 
placed within range, on the northwestern side of the harbor; 
the three fortifications being thus arranged so as to cover each 
other. The ramparts were of stone, from thirty to thirty-six 
feet high, with a ditch eighty feet wide, and extended over a 
circuit of nearly two miles. The works had been building for 
nearly twenty-five years, and were believed to be impregnable by 
any force that the British could bring against them. 

The French had been preparing for war, and had secured 
the neutrality and possibly the alliance of many of the Penobscot 
Indians, who up to that time had been believed to be friendly 
to the English. Colonel Pepperrell went to them at the head of 
a delegation, asking for their support in the war, but the applica- 
tion was refused, the Sagamores stating that they would not 
fight against their brethren of St, John's and New Brunswick. 
No one could tell how far the defection had extended, and the 
conviction became general in New England that, as long as this 
formidable fortress remained so near her borders, the colonists 
could never hope for security. The Legislatures of the New 
England colonies in winter session discussed plans for action, and 
sent letters to the provinces of New York, New Jersey and Penn- 
sylvania. The Legislature of New York, upon Governor Clin- 
ton's recommendation, appropriated three thousand pounds for 
the expenses of the expedition, and the Governor at his own 
expense sent cannon. Pennsylvania sent provisions. But these 
colonies furnished no troops to the expedition which followed. 
The New England colonies were not, however, daunted, and 
resolved to summon all their forces for the attack. The immense 
armies that were raised in this country during the civil war; the 
still more numerous hosts of the present war in Europe have so 
accustomed us to enormous hosts, that those which were engaged 
in any of our previous wars seem to us insignificant. The whole 
number of troops engaged in the Louisburg expedition would not 
have furnished a division to the army of the Potomac. But in 
considering the importance of the undertaking, we should com- 

9 



pare these numbers with those of our earlier wars. Massachusetts 
raised for the expedition, 3,250; Rhode Island, 300; New Hamp- 
shire, 300, and Connecticut, 500; an army larger than that with 
which General Taylor undertook the conquest of Mexico, and 
nearly equal to that with which he won the battle of Buena Vista. 
Yet that army was raised by the whole United States at a time 
when our population was nearly ten times the population of the 
colonies at the Revolution, and more than twenty times that of 
New England in 1745. 

Not only did the colonists send an army, but they contributed 
a portion of the navy that sailed for Louisburg; fourteen vessels 
with 204 guns. 

When the New England Legislatures had provided for raising 
troops, the question arose, who should command them. A long 
period of peace had left the colonists without officers of experience 
in large military manoeuvres. But amongst those who had com- 
manded in the border wars with the Indians, there was none who 
possessed the confidence of the people as did William Pepperrell, 
and he was unanimously selected for the position. He was re- 
luctant to accept it, and, while the matter was under consideration, 
consulted his guest, the famous George Whitefield, who was then 
on one of his missionary expeditions through New" England. 
Whitefield's reply was frank. He said: "I do not think the 
scheme very promising; if you take the appointment the eyes of 
all will be upon you; if you do not succeed, the widows and 
orphans of the slain will reproach you. If you should succeed, 
many will regard you with envy, and endeavor to eclipse your 
glory. You ought, therefore, if you go at all, to go with a single 
eye, and you will find your strength proportioned to your 
necessity." 

Governor Shirley assured Pepperrell that there was no one 
else in New England, under whose leadership the colonists could 
be sure of raising the troops necessary for the purpose. He 
accepted in the spirit Whitefield had urged. He then asked the 



10 



great religious leader to give him a motto for the colonial flag. 
The motto given was characteristic of the enterprise. It was 
" Nil Desperandum, Christo Duce." The religious spirit which 
had brought so many of the colonists to New England had lost 
none of its enthusiasm. 

The Massachusetts troops sailed on the 24th of March, 
1745, for Canso Bay, which was the place agreed upon for a 
rendezvous. On this very day a solemn service of prayer for 
the success of the expedition was held in St. Paul's, New York. 
Meanwhile Governor Shirley was in correspondence with Com- 
modore Peter Warren, who commanded the West India fleet. 
He at first declined to take part in the expedition. The refusal 
was received the very day before Pepperrell sailed, but he was 
nothing daunted and determined to make the attempt with the 
colonial forces alone. About three weeks, however, after the 
arrival at Canso, and while the men were at work making their 
own cartridges (a fact which illustrates one of the differences be- 
tween the warfare of those days and that of modern times), three 
large men-of-war loomed up on the horizon. These were soon 
discovered to be under the command of Commodore Warren. 
The troops sailed from Canso on the 29th of April, and arrived 
the next morning at Gabarus Bay. The precautions which 
Pepperrell had directed, to conceal the proximity of the troops 
from the garrison at Louisburg, had been entirely successful, and 
the first intelligence they had of the expedition was the arrival of 
the English and provincial fleet and the boats in which the soldiers 
rowed ashore. A detachment from the garrison was at once sent 
out to meet them, and, on the rocky coast of the island, the first 
blood was shed in the campaign. The provincials effected a land- 
ing, and drove the garrison back to their walls. A detachment 
of the invading army was at once dispatched to reconnoitre, and 
captured the royal battery on the northwestern side of the harbor. 
It had been, from the first, part of Pepperrell's plan to take this 
battery. He had ascertained the calibre of the guns. They 



11 



were larger than any of his own. He determined to capture them 
and had balls made in Boston to fit them. The captured guns 
were speedily turned against the citadel. 

Meanwhile the remainder of the army landed, and the troops 
encamped in the sight of the ramparts. These fortifications, to 
the provincials, unused to such solid walls, seemed formidable 
indeed. Major Pomroy, of Northampton, who had been detailed 
to dig out the touchholes of the cannon that the French had 
spiked, and who afterwards commanded with distinction at Lake 
George and Bunker Hill, wrote to his wife: " Louisburg is an 
exceedingly strong place and seems impregnable. It looks as if 
our campaign would last long, but I am willing to stay till God's 
time comes to deliver the city into our hands." 

General Pepperrell at once undertook to concert with Com- 
modore Warren a plan of campaign. But the Commodore always 
found some good reason for not sending his marines to assist in 
an attack on the Island battery at the entrance to the harbor, 
which Pepperrell desired to storm, and all the combinations which 
the American general endeavored to effect for this purpose came 
to naught. The British ships guarded the entrance to the harbor, 
and captured a number of vessels, some of which were laden with 
supplies for the garrison, and they furnished some gunners and 
powder for the siege guns. This was their contribution to the 
success of the enterprise. 

Colonel Gridley was assigned by Pepperrell to the construc- 
tion of the trenches and the mounting of siege guns. Thirty 
years afterwards Gridley marked out the line of the famous 
intrenchment of Bunker Hill. " When Gage was erecting breast- 
works across Boston Neck, the provincial troops sneeringly re- 
marked that his mud walls were nothing compared with the stone 
walls of old Louisburg." 

The first parallel was begun about 4,600 feet from the north- 
west bastion. The provincials soon constructed another at about 
half the distance from the ramparts, and brought into action a 
mortar battery which commenced a brisk bombardment. A 

12 



constant cannonade was kept up, the circle of fire gradually drew 
closer to the city, and on the 15th of May, a battery was finished 
a thousand feet from the west gate. 

The breach which had been made in the wall was gradually 
enlarging. The French constructed in the night a battery in the 
breach, but this was soon silenced by the provincial artillery. 
Signals were concerted, scaling ladders carried to the front, storm- 
ing parties were told off, and all was ready for an assault when, 
on the loth of June, Governor Ducharabon sent out a flag of 
truce. The terms of capitulation were agreed upon on the 16th 
and 17th. The French were to march out with the honors of war 
and lay down their arms, and it was stipulated that they should 
" in consideration of the gallant defence," be sent back to France. 
On the 17th Pepperrell marched in at the head of his army, and the 
French garrison, numbering 1,960, surrendered. " Thus," says 
Bancroft, " did the strongest fortress of North America capitulate 
to an army of undisciplined New England mechanics and farmers 
and fishermen. It was the greatest success achieved by England 
during the war."^ 

Some historians have been disposed to attribute to good 
fortune, and not to skill, this remarkable victory. To them we 
may reply in the language of Napier^ at the end of his account of 
the third siege of Badajos. This " has so often been adduced 
in evidence, that not skill, but fortune, plumed his (Wellington's) 
ambitious wing; a proceeding indeed most consonant to the 
nature of man, for it is hard to avow inferiority by attributing an 
action so stupendous to superior genius alone." 

Fifth. 

The importance of this expedition was realized in other 
colonies before it sailed. James Alexander writes to Cadwallader 
Golden, New York, March 10, 1745: 



2 History of the United States. Ed. 1850, Vol. Ill, p. 463. 
» History of the Peninsular War. Am. Ed. 1842, Vol. Ill, p. 238. 

13 



" The Boston Expedition against Cape Breton is a bold 
undertaking. If it succeed it will be the most glorious thing 
that has been done this war, and the most useful if the conquest 
can be kept, for it's the only place of Rendezvous that the French 
have to annoy the northern plantations with from the sea." 

The news of the capture of Louisburg was received on both 
sides of the Atlantic with the utmost joy, not unmingled with 
surprise. The fortress was so important, the French had been 
so long engaged in its construction, the means employed for its 
reduction appeared to European generals so insignificant, that 
the success almost transcended belief. On this side of the Atlan- 
tic, Boston and Salem, New York and Philadelphia, blazed with 
bonfires and illuminations, and resounded with the ringing of 
bells and the firing of cannon. 

The Rev. Dr. Chauncy wrote to Pepperrell from Boston on 
the fourth of July, a day which then had not the significance 
which with us it has since obtained: 

" I heartily congratulate you upon the news which we re- 
ceived yesterday about break of day, of the reduction of Cape 
Breton. The people of Boston before sunrise were as thick about 
the streets as on an election day, and a pleasing joy visibly set 
on the countenance of every one met with. 

" As God has made you an instrument of so much service 
to your country, at the hazard of your life, and the expense of 
great labor and fatigue, your name is deservedly and universally 
spoken of with respect, and / doubt not loill be handed down with 
honor to the latest posterity. 

" We had last night the finest illumination I ever beheld 
with my eyes. I believe there was not a house in town, in no 
by-lane or alley, but joy might be seen through its windows. 
The night also was made joyful by bonfires, fireworks and all 
other external tokens of rejoicing; but I hope we shall 'in a better 
manner still commemorate the goodness of God in this remarkable 
victory obtained against our enemies. I hear next Thursday 

14 



is set apart for a day of general thanksgiving through the province, 
and I believe there is not a man in the country but will heartily 
join the thanksgiving to God for his- appearance on our behalf." 
The contemporary accounts are too graphic not to be quoted: 
" Now the churl and the niggard became generous, and even 
the poor forgot their poverty; and in the evening the whole town 
(Boston) appeared, as it were, in a blaze, almost every house being 
finely illuminated." 

" At night the whole city (New York) was splendidly illumi- 
nated, and the greatest demonstration of joy appeared in every 
num's countenance upon hearing the good news."^ 

But the public rejoicings were not confined to the colonies. 
Tower Hill, Cheapside, and the Strand were illuminated as well 
as Beacon Street and Broadway. The messenger who brought 
to London the news of the surrender received a present of five 
hundred guineas. Pepperrell was made a baronet, and was com- 
missioned colonel in the British Regular Army.*^ 

Pepperrell remained in command at Louisburg until 1746, 
and here the Legislature of Massachusetts sent him an address, 
congratulating him and his officers and soldiers, and tendering 
the grateful acknowledgments of the colony for their important 
services. 



* New York Weekly Post Boy, July 15, 1745. 

In the same paper, a week later, the local poet thus gave expression to the 
general jubilation: 

ON THE TAKING OF CAPE BRETON. 

When glorious Anne Britannia's sceptre swayed. 
And Lewis strove all Europe to invade. 
Great Marlborough then, in Blenheim's hostile fields. 
With Britain's sons, o'erthrew the Gallic shields. 
The Western world and Pepperrell now may claim 
As equal honor and as lasting fame; 
And Warren's merit will in story last, 
'Til future ages have forgot the past. 

^ See in the Appendix extracts from the London Magazine for 1744 and 1745 
which show the importance of the expedition and the fame of its great leader. 

15 



Sixth. 

In 1746, Sir William returned to Boston, and was reelected 
President of the Council, which was then in session. He and Sir 
Peter Warren received a public reception from the Legislature, 
which was also in session, and on the fifth of July, Sir William left 
the city for his country seat at Kittery. His journey thither was 
like a royal progress. He was received at the different towns at 
which he stopped, by companies of mounted troops, and was 
welcomed everywhere with military salutes, illuminations and 
festivities. 

In 1749 he visited England and was received with marked 
distinction. After his return, and in 1753, he conducted important 
negotiations with the Indians of Maine. In 1754 he received 
orders to raise a regiment of foot for the royal service, and while 
in New York on military business in 1755, received a commission 
as major-general in the British Regular Army. Jealousy on the 
part of Governor Shirley kept him from service in the field at 
that time, but he exerted himself actively to raise troops for the 
war then going on with the French, and he was entrusted with the 
command of the forces which guarded the frontiers of Maine, 
New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He was efficient and suc- 
cessful in the work entrusted to him by the Newcastle ministry. 
But the campaign generally was unfortunate. When Pitt came 
into power he sent over two skilful generals, Amherst and Wolfe, 
and gave Pepperrell the chief command in the colonies. Had it 
not been for sickness, the result of hardship and exposure at 
Louisburg, he would have taken the field and actively shared the 
glories of Quebec and the capture of Fort Duquesne. The cam- 
paign which led to the overthrow of the French sway, in Canada, 
and prepared the way for the American Revolution, was fought 
according to the plans laid down by Pepperrell. Just as the war 
began to be successful, on the seventh of July, 1759, he died. 

To quote from Parsons' Life of Pepperrell (p. 314) : 

" When the former ministry was changed to make room for 

16 



the energetic Pitt, Sir William doubtless felt the loss of the Duke 
of Newcastle and of Lord Halifax, who had honored him with 
every token of respect when he was in London, and had since 
corresponded with him in a free and friendly manner on provin- 
cial concerns. They had twice sent him the King's commission 
of a colonel in the royal army and in 1756, that of a major-general. 
On their removal from power he must have apprehended that all 
his past services would, in a measure, be overlooked by young 
Pitt, to whom he was almost, if not entirely, a stranger. But 
such was not the case. The conquest of Louisburg was indelibly 
inscribed on the page of history, and Pitt learned from all quarters 
that no man in America wielded an influence like Pepperrell's. 
He had recently seen, too, that when Massachusetts was threat- 
ened with invasion from Fort William Henry, and the whole 
population was in the greatest consternation, lest the enemy 
should over-run the settlement with fire and sword, the eyes of 
all turned to the old hero of Louisburg as their leader, that they 
dropped their implements of husbandry in the field, seized their 
firelocks and marched forth in a mass under his banner to repel 
the enemy from the borders of the province. 

" The moral influence of such a man on the masses Pitt 
knew how to appreciate, and felt the importance of enlisting it to 
the uttermost in the existing crisis, in the service of the crown, by 
such merited tokens of respect for his character and past services 
as it was in the power of the King to bestow. Accordingly his 
Majesty honored him with a commission of lieutenant-general in 
the royal army, bearing date February 20, 1759, an honor never 
before conferred on a native of America." 

Seventh. 

In closing this memorial we respectfully submit that colonials 
are justly entitled to larger representation in the Hall of Fame. 
It was said of them that " God sifted a whole nation to plant 
seed in the American Wilderness." 

17 



We owe to them: 

1. The conversion of a wilderness into fruitful fields, the 
establishment of manufactures, the development of commerce. 

2. The successful struggle with the French and Indians who 
from Canada to Louisiana sought by a chain of forts to confine 
the English colonists to the Atlantic seacoast. In the course of 
this conflict, the colonists became a force in European politics. 
They took part in the war of Austrian Succession and the Seven 
Years' War, the great struggle which England, assisted by the 
armies of Frederick the Great, waged with France and Austria 
for supremacy in Europe, in America and India. 

3. The colonists achieved a certain amount of refinement 
and cultivation in their commercial centers, and fostered both 
art and learning. 

Pepperrell was conspicuous in all the fields in which the colo- 
nies manifested their greatness. 

First, as a colonizer. His estates were larger than those of 
any other American, except some of the royal patentees such as 
William Penn. No other colonist had such large commercial 
interests. This wealth and power were produced by the energy 
of Pepperrell and Son, the father having come to this country 
without a shilling. William Pepperrell could ride from his home 
in Kittery to Saco, without going off his own estates. No Ameri- 
can showed more power and energy in subduing the wilderness 
and bringing commerce to our shores. He advanced for the 
Louisburg Expedition £5,000, a princely gift for those days, 
£2,000 more than the colony of New York supplied. Four 
hundred men enlisted from his own town of Kittery. 

Second. Kittery was a border town, and " Pepperrell's 
Fort " in that town was a military outpost. Sir William, as we 
have seen, was from his earliest years commander of the militia 
of Maine. As Stevens says of him, — " The youth smelled powder 
before he reached his teens." Not only by arms, but also by wise 
negotiations, he protected the colonists from Indian incursions. 

18 



He was the most conspicuous figure in America during the 
war of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War, and 
thus achieved a greater international reputation than any Ameri- 
can prior to the Revolution. 

Third. No house in the colonies was more the center of 
culture than his. He was the patron of men of letters, and the 
benefactor of American colleges. He established the first public 
library of Maine. He designed the elaborate staircase in the 
Sparhawk house at Kittery, one of the finest specimens of colonial 
architecture in Eastern New England. 

We would gladly present him to you as he appeared in the 
old State House, in the Hancock mansion in Boston, or in his 
own home at Kittery; as Copley and Smybert have depicted him 
on canvas; the well-knit frame, clad in the embroidered waist- 
coat and scarlet coat of the period, the regular features, oval face, 
the kindly but resolute eye, the manly carriage. 

A fisherman's son, he raised himself to honor and wealth. 
Although not bred a lawyer, he presided with ability as chief 
justice. Although not trained a soldier, he commanded the 
armies of the colonies with courage, fortitude, foresight and suc- 
cess. No record has ever leaped to light that casts a shadow 
upon his memory. Just and upright in all his own dealings, 
he knew how to be generous and merciful to others; fearless and 
resolute himself, he knew how to encourage the wavering, and 
stimulate the doubting. He was politic without insincerity, 
liberal and hospitable without extravagance. 

The one controlling purpose of his life was duty. He became 
in youth a member of the Congregational Church, and continued 
a devout and consistent adherent to its principles. He chose for 
the name of the church in Kittery, which his father and he aided 
to establish, — not any denominational name, but — The Church 
of Christ. He was a warm friend of Edwards, and raised £700 
to aid in his work among the Stockbridge Indians. He was free 
from that narrowness and bigotry that disfigure the character of 



19 



some of the New England colonial leaders. At home and abroad, 
in the counting-house and the Legislature, on the Bench or in 
command of the provincial army, he embodied in action the 
religious conviction that became in youth an essential part — 
indeed, the foundation, of his whole character. Perhaps the best 
evidence of this is that prosperity never made him arrogant, or 
marred the simplicity and straightforwardness of the man. And 
thus, to the day of his death, he enjoyed alike the confidence of 
the Indians in the Maine forests, the British Governors sent to 
rule the provinces, the merchants of Boston and London, the 
aristocracy of Beacon Street, and his neighbors at Kittery. 



20 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Life of Sir William Pepperrell — Usher Parsons, 

The Louisburg Memorial — Society of Colonial Wars, 1896. 

Dictionary of National Biography — Leslie Stephen, Vol. 
14, p. 352; Title — WiUiam Pepperrell. 

Appleton's Encyclopaedia of American Biography — Vol. 4, 
p. 721; Title — William Pepperrell. 

Narrative and Critical History of America — Justin Winsor, 
Louisburg Expedition. Vol. 5, Chapter 18. 

The Taking of Louisburg — Samuel A. Drake. Boston — 
Lee and Shepard. 

New York Genealogical and Biographical Record — Sir 
William Pepperrell — Vol. 18, p. 98. 

New England Magazine — Sir William Pepperrell and the 
Capture of Louisburg — Vol. 12, p. 415. 

Journal of the Siege of Louisburg — James Gibson. 

New England Magazine — At the Siege of Louisburg — 
Vol. 37, p. 72. 

Naval and Military Heroes — Bohn, pp. 121, 166. 

Belknap's History of New Hampshire — Vol. 2, p. 158 
et seq. 

London Magazine — ^ July 23, 1745, August 3, 1745. 

Magazine of American History — John Austin Stevens — 
Sir William Pepperrell. Vol. 2, p. 673. 

Gordon's History of America — Vol. 1, p. 110 et seq. 

Journal and Letters — Curwen; pp. 602, 621. 

Collections — Massachusetts Historical Society, 1st series. 
Vol. 1, pp. 4-60. 

Collections — New York Historical Society. 

Half Century of Conflict — Parkman, Vol. 2, p. 72 et seq. 

Cambridge Modern History, United States — Vol. 7, pp. 
114-116. 

History of United States — Bancroft — Vol. 3, Chap. 24. 

History of Massachusetts — Hutchinson — Vol. 2, Chap. 4. 

History of United States of North America — Grahame — 
Vol. 3, p. 265 et seq. 

21 



Neglected Chapter of Colonial History; Rev. James Gibson 
Johnson; Harper's Monthly, January, 1904. 

Devonshire Men in America; Col. Sir Robert White- 
Thompson; Transactions Devonshire Historical Society, 1914. 

The statements in the foregoing memorial are the result 
of a very careful examination made by me of these authorities 
and particularly of the contemporary accounts, many of them 
in manuscript in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, New York Historical Society and the New York State 
Library. The latter, alas! have been destroyed by fire since I 
consulted them. 

It will be observed that in some of the statements, and 
particularly those relating to the careful preparations made for 
the expedition and the skill with which it was conducted, we 
differ somewhat from the current accounts. It is not surprising 
that a person making a special study of the life of an individual, 
or an enterprise in which he was engaged, should make a more 
thorough investigation of that subject than an historian of the 
century. 

Everett P. Wheeler. 



22 



Inscription on Tablet at Kittery Point on the Family 
Tomb-lot of the Pepperrells 

In Commemoration 

OF THE 

Courage, Wisdom and Patriotism 

OF 

Col. William Pepperrell 

Born in Devonshire, 1646 

Died in Kittery, 1734 

AND OF His Son 

Sir William Pepperrell, Bart. 

Born in Kittery, 1696 

Died in Kittery, 1759 

Chief Justice of the 

Court of Common Pleas 

President of the Council of Massachusetts. 

He Commanded the Colonial Forces 

At the Successful Siege of 

louisburg, 1745, 

AND IN Recognition of His Services 

Was Made a Baronet and 

General of the Army 

Honors Never Before Conferred 

on a Colonial. 

Erected by the Pepperrell Association 

1907. 



23 



APPENDIX. 

Extracts from the London Magazine, 1744, 1745. 

"The importance of Cape Breton to the British Nation. Humbly represented 
by Robert Auchmuty, Judge of his Majesty s Court of Vice- Admiralty for the 
Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, in New England. 
" This Island, situated between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, the English 
exchanged with the French for Placentia in the treaty of Utrecht; and, during 
the late Peace between the two Nations, the French, by the Advantage of Place, 
carried on an unbounded Fishery, annually employing at least 1,000 Sail, from 
'200 to 401 Tons, and 20,000 Men. In the year 1730 there was a Computation made 
of 220,000 Quintals of Fish at Marseilles, only for a Market; and, communibus 
Annis, they cure above five Millions of Quintals. How dangerous a Nursery of 
Seamen this Island therefore has been, and ever will be, while in their Possession, 
is too obvious to a British Constitution; and it is as demonstrable, the Recovery 
of a place of this Consequence will entirely break up their Fishery, and destroy 
this formidable Seminary of Seamen; for if they are happily removed from this 
advantageous Shelter, no Protection is left for them on the Fishing Ground nearer 
than Old France; therefore they will not expose themselves to the frequent Sur- 
prizes and Captures of the English from this Island and the Continent; but, 
finally, will be oblig'd to quit the Undertaking, leaving the English in the sole 
possession of this most valuable Branch of Trade, which annually will return to the 
English Nation 2,000,000 Pounds Sterling, for the Manufactures yearly shipp'd 
to her Plantations; and constantly employ Thousands of Families otherwise un- 
serviceable to the Public; and greatly increase Shipping and Navigation, and 
Mariners. It is further to be ob.served, while the English solely supply Foreign 
Markets with this Commodity, Roman Catholick Families must have a sort of 
Dependency on them. 

" Moreover, the Acquisition of this important Island cuts off all Communi- 
cation between France and Quebec, the Navigation to Canada River bearing near 
it; and must obstruct the French Navigation through the Bay of St. Lawrence 
to the only Possessions the French have upon the Sea Coast to the Northward of 
Louisiana, in the great Bay of Mexico. 

" By this means, Quebec must, in the Run of very little Time, fall into the 
Hands of the English; and the Indians, wanting the useful Protection and Supplies 
from France, will be obliged to count the English for both; and having once ex- 
perienced the Treatment of both Nations, as the latter can supply them better and 
cheaper than the former they will consequently be riveted in Interest to her; and 
thus the English will render themselves entirely Masters of the rich and profitable 
Furr-Trade, at present chiefly engrossed by the French. 

" But the consideration alone, that the British Navigation and Settlements 
on the Sea Coasts throughout North America, at present lie terribly exposed to 
Men of War and Privateers from the Island, claims an Attention to proper Measures 
for immediately regaining Possession of it; For from thence the French, with Ease 
and Little Time may station themselves in Lattitudes proper to intercept the 
Navigation between England and all her Plantations, and the intercourse of Trade 
subsisting between one Plantation and another, by Captures, supplying themselves 
with English Manufacturers, Naval Stores, Masts, Yards, Plank, Lumber, Sugar, 
Cotton, Provisions &c. and from its vicinity with the Continent may, with the like 
Ease, surprize our Settlements all along the Coast and take the Mast Ships when 
loaded out of Casco and Portsmouth Harbors; Whereas the Accession of this 
Island to the British Dominions will not only secure our Navigation and guard 

24 



our Coasts in America; but will be a safe retreat for our men of war in the Hurri- 
can months, or when threaten'd with a superior Force; Besides, there they with 
greater Safety and less Expense to the Crown, may refit then in any other Harbour 
in North America." (See London Mag. 1744, p. 444, reprinted m same maga- 
zine, July 23, 1745.) 

" TUESDAY, July 23, 1745. 

" At noon the Lords of the Regency in Council, ordered the Tower and Park 
Guns to be fired for the Taking of Cape Breton which was accordingly done at 
Three o'Clock; in the Evening the publick Offices, &c. were illuminated, and the 
Night, concluded with Bonfires Ringing of Bells and all other Demonstrations of 
Joy. (See p. 353.) 

" The same Day, at a Court of Aldermen, the following Motion was made 
by Mr. Alderman Baker: ' To congratulate his Majesty on the Success of his 
Majesty's Forces in the Conquest of the Town and Fort of Louisburg, and the 
Island of Cape Breton; The Possession of which, and the Fisheries of those Seas, 
have been the great Causes of the Increase of the American Trade to France and 
the greatest Supports to the Naval Power of that Kingdom.' After a long Debate, 
the Court broke up without coming to any Resolution." 

" WESTMINSTER JOURNAL, Aug. 3, 1745. No. 192. 
"Reflections occasioned by the late Conquest of Cape Breton. (See p. 353.) 

"The Island of Cape Breton is at last taken, and we have had our Day of 
Rejoicings, in which I more heartily join'd than on any other Occasion since the 
War has begun. A most valuable Acquisition undoubtedly it is, if we take Care 
to keep it upon a Peace, and are as industrious to improve it afterwards, as the late 
Possessors have been for thirty Years past. 

" But to whom are we to ascribe the Glory of this successful Expedition? 
To what Cause this Dissimilitude of all other military Operations, that it was 
conducted with Secrecy, Prudence, and Resolution? That all obstructions were 
foreseen and obviated, and every Precaution taken? 

"Could we answer. To the M— y, it would almost tempt me to think, that 
the Spirit of Wisdom was returning to our Councils, and that the Broad-Bottoms 
had borne in a Set of political Heads: — But the contrary is too evident from all 
the Accounts of this Affair, since we had the first Intimation that it would be 
attempted. New England, I suspect, has so much Right to the Glory of this Plan, 
that I am afraid scarce a (ilimpse of it can ever reach the Old. 

The prodigious Advantages of this Acquisition, as set forth in the Oration 
exciting to the Attempt, I confess, are beyond what I had ever conceived. (See 
p. 354.) But should they prove somewhat less, the Benefit of securing our Northern 
Colonies on the Atlantic, and in Time perhaps for wearing out those of the French 
on the River St. Lawrence, must be very considerable; And, above all, if we have 
but a true Attention to our own Interest, the adding to ourselves, by this Means, 
whatever we wrest from the Enemy in their Fishery, must be a growing Fund of 
Wealth, and Nursery of Mariners. 

" All these advantages, and perhaps many more, were well considered in New 
England; and I am assured, that, contrary, to the old English Method, a most 
exact Information was procured of the State of the Place in every Respect, the 
Strength of the Garrison, and the most proper Season for attacking it; Which was 
punctually attended to in every Step of the Execution. 

25 



" That, after the Design was compleatly formed, there was so far a Concur- 
rence here, that Mr. Warren, was permitted to assist in it, must indeed be owned: 
But I am apt to think, that in Order to procure this Concurrence, the Particulars 
of the Secret were not communicated ; because if they had, I should not have hoped 
to see them long conceal'd, even from the Enemy; and we have but too often seen 
our best Projects ruin'd by being discovered. 

" But if all our Expeditions had been undertaken with the same Views, 
Views to the Increase and Security of our Commerce, and conducted with the same 
Secrecy and Regularity, does not this Success afford a very good Specimen of what 
might have been done? A small Body of Troops, for the most part Militia, and a 
very small Royal Squadron, have effected more in a few months for the publick 
Service, than had been before done by our numerous Fleets, charged with regular 
Troops and Marines, in a War of near six Years Continuance." 

That the Louisburg Expedition was not only one of great 
importance but that the memory of it as a famous event in the 
Colonial history is still preserved is well illustrated by the following 
extract from the National Geographic Magazine of July, 1920: 

"THE ROMANTIC STORY OF LOUISBURG. 

" The story of Louisburg, a fortress twenty-five years in the building, at a cost 
of six millions of dollars — more than four times that sum in the value of our 
money — its two sieges, and its final demolition, is the best known chapter of Cape 
Breton's history. 

" Perhaps in the annals of the New Workl there is no story so romantic as that 
of a city, ramparted and bastioned and bristling with cannon, sheltering the lives 
of thousands of souls, with its imposing public buildings, its cathedral, convent 
and hospital, its theater, and even its brewery, springing up on the shores of this 
far-off island in the North Atlantic — an island alrriost unexplored and inhabited 
by savages not always friendly, and for half a century remammg a challenge and 
a menace to the neighboring colonies of a rival power. 

" The fortress became not only the base of French naval power in America, 
but, with outlying posts at St. Peters, Ingonish and St. Anns, the resort of priva- 
teers that infested the New England coast and the haven to which they conveyed 
their spoils. 

" Upon the outbreak of war between France and England, in 1744, it may be 
imagined that to the colonists of Massachusetts and New Hampshire the reduction 
of this stronghold of His Most Christian Majesty was a highly attractive project. 

"A Siege that Foreshadowed the American Revolution. 

" The first siege and capture of Louisburg by the little band of New England 
militiamen under Pepperrell, with the British West India fleet under Warren, prob- 
ably foreshadowed the American Revolution. Of these intrepid colonists one his- 
torian says: 

" ' Their expedition against Cape Breton was their first national enterprise 
and its result their first national triumph, and it presaged greater things. There 
were not wanting those who saw in the downfall of Louisburg the independence of 
the American colonies. . . . The dormant idea of national separation was fanned 
into flame before the walls of Louisburg.' 

26 



" On the surface, however, il was purely a British exploit to ' curb the 
haughtiness of France.' 

" There were miUtary honors and a title for Pepperrell; and New York and 
Philadelphia and Boston rang loyally with: 

" ' A glorious peace we shall have soon 
For we have conquered Cape Breton, 
With a fa, la, la,' etc., 

to the accompaniment of bell-ringing and bonfires and tubs of punch. 

" The descendants of these enthusiastic citizens, the Society of Colonial Wars, 
have erected a granite shaft to the heroic dead of this enterprise, and it stands on 
the spot where Pepperrell, in the presence of the assembled troops, received from 
the military governor the keys of this ' most splendid city of La Nouvelle France.' 

" All England celebrated the victory; there were illuminations and the firing 
of salutes, and the captured colors of the fortress were deposited with much pomp 
in St. Paul's Cathedral. 

" With the closing of this refuge of Atlantic privateers ' marine insurance on 
Anglo- American vessels fell at once from 30 to 12 per cent.' 

" Gallantries in Time of War. 

" Subsequently the island was restored to France — as much a cause for irri- 
tation to New England, and perhaps more justly so, than that which precipitated 
a tea-party better known. And again the fortunes of war and the final supremacy 
of Anglo-Saxon arms in the New World made it permanently a British possession. 

" The giant fortress of Louisburg was demolished in favor of the newly 
fortified base at Halifax — a military necessity that is deplored by the visitor of 
to-day." 



Extract from American History by David Saville Muzzey, Ph.D. (p. 93.) 

" A glorious exploit of the Colonial troops in this war was the capture in 1745 
of the informing fortress of Louisburg on Cape Breton Island commanding the 
mouth of the St. Lawrence. Colonel William Pepperrell of Maine was in command 
of the expedition. His army consisted almost wholly of troops voted by the New 
England legislature. The restoration of the fortress to France in the peace of 
1748 created bitter feeling in the breasts of the New England yeoman who thought 
that the mother country underrated their sacrifices and courage." 



27 



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